Sabena and Air Littoral, both members of the Qualiflyer alliance, have signed a code-share agreement, under which Sabena will place its code on all Air Littoral-flights except Nice-Geneva and Marseille-Zurich services, which are code-shared with Swissair. Sabena plans to serve Marseille and Nice with Air Littoral's code on its own flights at a later stage. Air Littoral operates 39 aircraft on 220 daily flights.
Talks between Boeing and its Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) continued yesterday with the help of Richard Barnes, director of Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, but SPEEA was poised to strike today if the two sides failed to reach an agreement. SPEEA Executive Director Charles Bofferding declined comment on the potential for a deal, but noted that the union was prepared to hold a strike rally at 10 a.m. PST.
The Clinton Administration's proposed aviation user fees, amounting to $965 million in the fiscal 2001 budget request sent to Congress on Monday, "are as dead as they can be," a spokesman for House Transportation Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) said yesterday. Shuster, the spokesman added, doesn't favor imposing new taxes. The DAILY erroneously reported Feb. 8 that Rep. Shuster was pleased with the user fees increase. He is opposed to the user fees, the spokesman continued, because "he doesn't think imposing new taxes is the way to go."
BWIA will begin service between Boston Logan Airport and Bridgetown, Barbados and Port of Spain, Trinidad. On Feb. 11, twice-weekly nonstop service begins between Boston and Barbados, continuing to Trinidad.
A KLM spokesman confirmed that the Dutch airline's alliance with Alitalia will be "under serious threat" if the Italian government does not solve Milan Malpensa's multiple problems "in the next few months." The long series of mishaps that followed the opening of Malpensa Airport strongly affected Alitalia, which announced "drastic measures" to cut costs. Yesterday, KLM Chairman Leo van Wijk said that "the overhanging uncertainty" regarding Malpensa "impacts the core of the alliance."
GE Aircraft Engines and CFM International last year won 57% of the total engine orders for commercial aircraft with more than 100 seats. The companies claimed victory yesterday, noting that they received 1,166 firm engine orders, down 22% from 1,499 engines in 1998. "Despite a flat industry volume, we are pleased to have expanded our installed engine base by more than anticipated in 1999," said President James McNerney.
American Trans Air will begin nonstop Seattle-Boston and Seattle-Chicago Midway service May 7. The airline is offering introductory fares starting at $99 each way.
BOEING 757 AND 777 AIRCRAFT OPERATING COSTS THIRD QUARTER 1999 DOLLARS PER BLOCK HOUR B757-200 AMERICA WEST AMERICAN CONTINENTAL DELTA Crew Cost $420 $709 $554 $562 Fuel&Oil 712 585 584 484
Lufthansa will expand its regional network, Team Lufthansa, with the beginning of the summer schedule. Cirrus Airlines, based in Saarbrucken, will fly from Saarbrucken and Mannheim to other German cities and possibly some foreign destinations, operating Dornier 328s under the Lufthansa code. Team Lufthansa includes Augsburg Airways, Rheintalflug, Contact Air, Cimber Air and Air Littoral.
Crossair's traffic grew 11.1% in 1999 for a total of 5.99 million passengers. The load factor declined by one percentage point to 54.6%. Of the 5.99 million passengers, 2.16 million were flown on behalf of Swissair. The carrier expects to issue financial results in March.
America West unveiled a new look yesterday for its Internet web site that it claims will provide easier and faster navigation. "Based on feedback received from customers, the site's content has been entirely reorganized under a new drop-down menu," the carrier said. The airline also speeded up response times and improved the site's reliability. The America West web site accounts for 4% of total revenues, while 11% of revenues came from Internet bookings in general. This spring, www.americawest.com will switch to a booking engine managed by GetThere.com.
Alitalia launched its Internet booking site in the U.S. yesterday, using the GetThere Exchange software platform. "There is an excellent opportunity to extend our reach globally," said Khursheed Palkhiwala, VP of marketing. Other airlines using the GetThere.com product include United, Northwest, All Nippon Airways and Air New Zealand.
Japan Airlines has formalized an agreement with Cuba's government tourist agency, Cubanacan, to operate a series of charter flights from Osaka to Havana in August with a technical stop at Vancouver, using 350-passenger Boeing 747s. This operation will coincide with Japan's vacation period, and JAL is ready to upgrade it to regular scheduled service depending on future demand.
Continental added online ticket purchasing capability for customers in Canada and the U.K. to its web site. In addition to English-language sites for Canadian and British travelers, the site includes language-specific sites for France, Spain and Japan.
TWA gained initial two-year exemptions for service to Bermuda from St. Louis and New York LaGuardia. The carrier plans seasonal service -- and the only nonstops on both routes -- daily from LaGuardia and twice-weekly from St. Louis, using MD-83s. (Dockets OST-99-6431, 6799)
Birmingham Airport, Great Britain, will freeze its main airport charges for the fifth consecutive year to remain competitive in the U.K. aviation market. Officials will keep runway and passenger charges pegged at 1995-1996 levels, and the new charges, effective April 1, represent a "significant, real reduction in the level of airport charges after allowing for inflation." Airport officials also noted that the freeze is being maintained despite the abolition of duty-free sales within the European Union.
Continental Europe's largest airport has come closer to a large-scale expansion. After an 18-month evaluation, a mediation group for Frankfurt Airport has proposed four scenarios that would boost capacity by as many as 120 movements per hour. Currently, the notoriously congested airport can handle 78 hourly movements. Home carrier Lufthansa, desperately hoping for more space and slots, already transferred some of its long-haul flights to Munich.
U.S. chalked up its 42nd open-skies agreement, with Namibia, last Friday following two days of talks in Windhoek. Thomas White, acting U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation affairs, and F.W. Poolman, Namibian under secretary for transportation, initialed the accord, which is applied provisionally pending its coming into force by signature. U.S. and Namibian aviation representatives agreed to a phase-in of two provisions, with all other open-skies provisions in effect immediately.
FAA awarded an $18 million contract to Computer Sciences Corp. to begin software development of the Controller-Pilot Data Link communications (CPDLC), which the agency says is the key to easing allowing more traffic growth. The agency says that it will not only provide more efficient, automated communications, it also will reduce operational errors due to misunderstood voice communications. Build 1A of CPDLC is scheduled to be deployed June 2003 at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center, with deployment six months afterwards at the 19 other ARTCCs.
After more than two days, the hijacking of an Afghan Boeing 727 was still not resolved Monday night at London Stansted. The aircraft was taken over by the hijackers late Saturday. After several stops that included Tashkent/Uzbekistan and Moscow, the airplane landed at Stansted airport early Monday morning. The hijackers released eight passengers, while 157 remained on board in the evening when negotiations reached a critical stage, police said. Hostages were being supplied with food and water.
Aero Continente Chile is scheduled to begin domestic operations in 45 days from Santiago to 12 Chilean destinations with Boeing 727s and 737s. The second stage calls for expansion to two border destinations in Argentina.
The Clinton administration yesterday requested an $11.22 billion fiscal 2001 FAA budget, a $1.29 billion increase, but for the second year in a row proposed funding the agency entirely from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. In terms of actual spending, the budget projects returning $39 million to the general fund. Thus, while the House-Senate fiscal 2000 FAA reauthorization conference is deadlocked over whether trust fund dollars should be shielded from appropriators, the administration appears indirectly to have taken its stand.
TRAFFIC DATA -- JANUARY 2000 AIRLINE RPMS CHANGE ASMS CHANGE (IN BILLIONS) (IN BILLIONS) AirTran 0.24 +2.7% 0.12 +2.7% Air Wisconsin 0.09 +19.2% 0.16 +28.3% America West 1.30 +5.4% 2.15 +1.4% American 8.48 -3.0% 13.30 +0.4%
Helijet Airways of Vancouver and Sikorsky have signed an agreement to begin S-92 helicopter service in 2002 in the Pacific Northwest. Helijet experienced a 24% growth in revenue and "strong profitability" in 1999 when it moved more than 100,000 passengers on its Vancouver-Victoria and Victoria-Seattle route structure with its smaller S-76s. "Scheduled airline use of helicopters is certainly on a growth profile, and Helijet is certainly a showcase for helicopter airlines," said Mike Moran, VP-marketing and sales at Sikorsky.
